It's practically a civic duty in the age of #Ferguson, #Gezi, #Occupy and more. Read the rest

Spocko sez, "What are the current rules for filming police in the state of California?

This man seems to believes that he should be arrested for filming the police and offers himself up for arrest after clearly holding his phone up to film them.

He places his dog in his car and is arrested. While handcuffed and being led away, the dog jumps out of the car to go to the man. The police see the dog as attacking them and when it doesn't stop, shoot the dog several times.

Would this had happened if the man (and the police) knew the law about filming police in public in California?"

Warning: Video contains violence and language

Hawthorne, Ca Police Kill Dog(1)

(Thanks, Spocko!) Read the rest

A few of the 10,000 G4S private security guards hired to police the London Olympics have been videoed while illegally harassing photographers who were taking pictures of the Olympic site from public land. In the video, the guards make lunges for the press-cameras, put their hands over lenses, and make inaccurate statements about whether and where images may be taken of the site. Scotland Yard had previously assured the National Union of Journalists that the private security at the Olympics had been trained on the legality of taking images from public land.

They were totally wrong.

Peter Walker writes in The Guardian:

As they walked along one pavement, near the adjoining Westfield shopping mall, a G4S guard approached the group and told them they were not allowed to film, before trying to hold his hand over Hurd's camera.

A supervisor who arrived told the group that guards had been specifically instructed to stop people filming a nearby "security screening area".

She said: "We are told that we should refrain from letting anybody film the security screening area. Obviously, we don't want that filmed."

The supervisor appeared not to know the difference between filming on public and private land, likening the rules to those against taking pictures of security checks at London's Heathrow airport.

She added: "We're all here for the protection of the Olympic park. Obviously, if you don't care about that, that's your business. We care."

Olympic park security guards forcibly stop journalists from taking photos Read the rest

Back in 2010, I blogged the video of Jules Mattsson, a 15-year-old freelance photographer who was stopped by police while shooting an Armed Forces Day parade in London. The police inspector took down his details, told him it was an offense under the Terrorism Act to take pictures of soldiers, told him that the police could stop public photography without recourse to any law, and then told him that photographing soldiers was "gay," "anti-social behaviour," "silly" and "stupid."

Finally, Mattsson has gotten justice: the police have paid him an undisclosed settlement and issued an apology.

"The inspector told [Jules] he was a public hazard and said that photographing in public was 'anti-social behaviour'," he said.

"He described the act of taking photographs as 'silly' and 'gay' and 'stupid'," said the spokesman.

"When [Jules] continued to state the lawfulness of his behaviour, the inspector declared it was 'dangerous' as he was 'likely to be trampled on by soldiers' from the parade."

Ms Cotton, head of the police misconduct department at the law firm, said: "The treatment of the police towards our client, a 15-year-old, was shocking. The inspector's comments were designed to belittle."

Metropolitan Police compensate parade-ban photographer Read the rest